<p>I am a college freshman, and I cannot decide which to major in. I know I really enjoy math and am successful in it, but I also enjoy biology. Would you recommend a major in math and a minor in biology? Or, the other way around: major in biology and minor in math?</p>
<p>Do you intend to get a degree beyond your bachelor’s degree? Job prospects for a graduate with a B.S. in math are probably better than for one with a B.S. in biology.</p>
<p>I will actually probably go on to graduate school, although in what I am not sure. I have considered the possibilities of either medical school or nursing (prerequisites taken care of). But, I am open to any other field as well. I truly have no idea what I want to go to graduate school for, only that I will go, and that I enjoy biology and math.</p>
<p>And when do you have to declare a major?</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>If you have excellent math skills, consider the degree in Math, maybe applied math. The Financial Industry(Wall Street in particular) love people that can manipulate numbers. I am currently a Economics major, and taking Math classes beyond the basic req. for a economics major(usually Statistical Methods and Calculus 1)</p>
<p>Math generally has better job and career prospects than biology, due to finance and actuarial job recruiting (it would help to take a few statistics and economics/finance courses; statistics is also useful for biology).</p>
<p>You can take the pre-med courses alongside any major.</p>
<p>I have to declare a major by the end of next year, but in order to be prepared, I am trying to make a decision soon. Thanks for the input, I am thinking I will most likely major in applied math!</p>
<p>I will concur with the others, math as a major has a wider variety of potential jobs. Do take a biology minor, as it’s certainly helpful. Within the math major, make sure to take a variety of courses (pure, applied, stats and take at least two computer science courses as well, even if the program doesn’t require it, it’s essential in today’s job market) because that’s what will make you more adaptable. After that, you’ll have tons of options, not only for jobs, but for graduate school as well (assuming you have the necessary GPA): math, stats, finance, econ, biostats, bioinfo…</p>
<p>I’ll repeat myself for the n-th time: what a math degree gives you is not training for a particular job or some factual knowledge, it’s abstract thinking and problem solving skills. If you take a wide variety of courses early on, you’ll get a better feeling of where you want to focus, and you’ll have the strong theoretical background to back your applied skills, and the knowledge of the applied, real-world problems to work on useful theory if pure math is the way you want to go. The problem with biology as a job market is that it’s overflooded. But as a research field, there is way more money there than in mathematics, and one way to be ahead of the competition is to have the mathematical skills that the pure bio students lack. And, from a personal preference, it’s a more real field to do research in than finance (i.e., it has an existence outside human construction). Not that you necessarily want to end up being a researcher. But, either way, with a math degree and a bio minor, you can go in whichever direction you want later. And if you go down the finance path, perhaps your knowledge of biology will give you some insight at some point. Who knows? I’ve seen people bring ideas from plasma physics in finance. What was the connection: mathematics of course!</p>
<p>MATH MATH MATH!!! Math major bio minor > biology major math minor ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS.</p>
<p>Biology majors don’t learn jack. With a major in math and a minor in bio, you are better equipped with the skills necessary to enter any subfield of biology.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the input everyone! I do believe I will go with the math major now!</p>